Course Information, Summer 2026

Exploring Transfer course information is specific to each summer program and subject to change.

Features, Not Bugs: Problems of Race in Social and Political Life

Taneisha Means, Associate Professor of Political Science, Vassar College

Zachary Sunderman, Instructor of Sociology, Westchester Community College

This course examines the inherent complexities of race, racial identity, and racial inequality in America and other multiracial and multicultural societies. Students in the course will examine conflict, crisis, and complications as they show up in the social and political lives of marginalized and non-marginalized populations. Through social scientific (theory and evidence from sociology and political science) and cultural (poetry, music, art, film) lenses, students will gain the practical ability to recognize and apply the course's themes in their knowledge and analysis of society, politics, power, and inequality.

This course is divided into three parts that reflect a coherent arc from micro-level identity development to macro-level applied institutional analysis. In Part I, students will focus on identity development and politics, examining factors that shape individual and group-based political and social identities. Part II focuses on identity and the politics of collective action, especially past and present social and political movements aimed at addressing racial inequality and realizing democratic possibilities. Finally, in Part III, students will explore identity and institutionalized politics within political and legal systems via policies, legislation, and legal cases, to better understand political representation, governance, policymaking, and power. Through a paper, research project, debate, presentation, dialogue, and data analysis opportunities, this course will aid in further developing students’ familiarity with relevant data and theoretical and empirical scholarship, in addition to improving their analytical, methodological (qualitative and quantitative), and communication skills.